Affirmation
by myboygeorge
Summary: When Renee is back in town and involved in a car crash, Nick finds out just what this whirlwind romance is really made of, while another pair of CSIs keep it on the lowdown...NickOC plus MysteryPair R&R and thanks to Becsi for helping with chapters 911
1. One More Comment, He Might Turn Violet

Grissom hated Conrad Ecklie. Though he was a scientist, he hated absolutes; absolutes left no room for the human element, but he was absolutely certain that the assistant director's pure purpose on the planet earth was to make his life a living hell. It was late, just about time to clock out from the triple he'd worked, and he was using all his strength to keep his eyes open. Maybe he'd purloin a flask of Greg's heavenly Blue Hawaiian brew, seasoned with a healthy dose of cream, and quietly sip on it as he made his final notes of the night. It sounded like a nice plan.

That was, until Ecklie's phone call.

Now he sat, elbows propped heavily on his desk, scrubbing a hand wearily over his face as he tried to make his case.

"Because, Conrad, I do not want to be put into that kind of situation… …yes I think it's a bad idea…I don't care if it's for science, I am not giving any rookie shrink that kind of information about my job and my life…You have my proposal for the appropriate candidate if you insist on going through with this charade."

At this, Sara and Warrick walked into his office, catching the tail end of the conversation. "Problem?" Sara asked, knowing that the answer was quite obvious.

Grissom looked up, the receiver still at his ear. "Ecklie wants me to…" He trailed off as his boss came back on the line. "Thank you, Conrad," he said, hung up the phone as he took off his glasses. "He wanted me to participate in a psychological study, where I am interviewed by a student for a forensics thesis paper, answering questions about my feelings towards our job. I told him the only way I'd agree to it is if I picked the student."

Sara tried her best to keep her jaw from hitting the floor. Typical Ecklie always tried to throw a monkey wrench Griss' way. Sighing she eased into a chair, made herself at home.

"So who'd you pick?"

Before Grissom could respond, Nick walked into the room, with an extra spring in his step that had Sara arching an eyebrow at him. "Sorry to interrupt guys. This is the last of the week's paperwork." He passed his files over to his boss, and then dusted off his hands. "And I am out of here."

The almost song-like tone in his voice had Warrick looking his boy up and down and flat out asked him, with not a little curiosity, "Why are you so smiley?"

It was true; Nick could barely contain the grin on his face. It was ridiculous, he knew, he was nearly thirty five years old yet here he was super psyched about a Friday night. But what they didn't know was that this wasn't just any Friday night. Instead he tried to play it like there were no big plans for the night. Or the weekend, or the entire week. "I have a full 36 hours off starting in three minutes. I plan on being horizontal for a good portion of that, doing absolutely nothing. Just some quality down time."

Beside Warrick, Sara started to wrinkle her nose. "What's that smell?"

"I don't smell anything," Nick replied, trying to keep his cool.

"Yeah, it's like…cedar chips or something."

"It's cologne." Like a bloodhound picking up a trail, Grissom rose from his desk and followed his nose – literally – to the source, stopping only inches from Nick's face. "Armani, am I right?"

Then realization dawned on Sara, in a purely female way, why Nick had splashed on some designer fragrance in the locker room. Deciding to enjoy this, she turned to Warrick, primly folded her hands in her lap and spoke coyly.

"Rick?"

"Why yes, Sara?" Warrick recognized the tone in her voice, decided to play along. Aside from a glittering black baby grand and a cold beer on a hot day, there was nothing Warrick enjoyed more then needling his best friend.

"What do you do when you know you've got a hot date?"

"I…"Warrick trailed off as Sara merely narrowed an eye at him, then he flicked a glance to Nick as the grin spread over his face. "I see why you're so excited at 'being horizontal'. Renee's back in town, isn't she?" He relished the moment, finally thankful to have some payback over the merciless teasing he'd taken from Nick when he and Tina had first gotten married. Then, turning back to Sara, Warrick continued in the priggish style she'd started up. "Good thing Greg's not here."

"Yeah, he'd try to break his nose again."

"Guys, he did not nearly break my nose."

Hoping to stave off what he knew would be a teenage level of poking and prodding, Grissom stepped in, to bring back the conversation to a particular level. "Warrick, I need you to go over to Chicane and Freemont, Greg and Catherine are working a suspicious circs involving some bangers. What time does Renee land at the airport?"

"In about half an hour. I gotta head out before I meet her I need to pick up some...stuff," Nick finished in a rush.

"What kind of stuff?" Sara asked sweetly.

"Just…stuff."

Warrick nearly swallowed his tongue as he watched his friend turn a pretty shade of crimson. He nudged Sara's shoulder with his elbow. "Come on Sara, use your imagination. 'Stuff' probably means something along the lines of massage oils, maybe a little whip cream, and a big box of-"

"Warrick, crime scene, now and take Sara with you," Grissom cut him off before he could inflict any more embarrassment on Nick. Another few seconds and Nick's red face would have gone magenta. Instead, though he knew how strange it would sound, he stood up to get his coat and follow Nick.

"I think I'll tag along."


	2. A Sweet Reunion

"Oh my goodness, Dr Grissom, I'd be honoured to interview you."

"When Ecklie sprung it on me, your name immediately popped into my mind."

If there had been a time in Nick's life when there'd been a stranger car trip, he couldn't think of it. Right now, he was driving in his Denali and after much debate over who'd get shotgun– his boss or his girlfriend – Renee had taken away the decision from him when she merely hopped in the backseat beside her luggage. Nick no longer tried to hide the grin as he had at the lab. He'd finally become comfortable enough with his boss outside of work that he didn't let something as simple as being excited over seeing his girlfriend embarrass him. Instead, Nick flicked a glance at his rear view mirror where Renee was all but gyrating in her seat. When their eyes connected, Nick just shook his head. It amazed him that he could read her so well, and she him, after just two weeks together.

"Don't look at me; I'm just as surprised as you are."

Renee leaned forward, slightly swatting Nick on the arm. "Do you realize I'm going to have a definitive paper in forensic psychology? Your boss is one of the most respected criminalists in the entire country. To shadow him on his job is like a shrink's wet dream." Then she lowered her eyes, realizing that while she was on vacation, the rest of the world was not. Murder still happened, so consequently, Grissom might not be available. This time when she spoke it was with a more subdued and professional tone. "If you're not available this week, I can rearrange my schedule so that I can make it out again sometime later…" she trailed off, nervously twisting her trio of necklaces around her fingers.

"Renee, my job on Monday and Tuesday is to help you do your job. Ecklie arranged a temporary pass so you can access to the lab and shadow me for observation."

Renee grinned, then leaned back against the seat. The week had been absolute hell for her, she hadn't gone to bed between Sunday and Wednesday, cramming as much work into those days as she possibly could so she could afford a full weekend off to visit Nick. When she saw him as she walked through the gate, as she felt those strong well muscled arms scoop her up and hold her close, she knew every gritty-eyed minute had been worth it. A serene smile spread over her face as she watched the lights of the brightest town in the United States whip past her window.

"It'll be a nice change of pace compared to last week. I'm definitely looking forward to a day or two off, and getting horizontal for a good chunk of that time."

Grissom shot a darting glance at Nick, wondering if he realized that he'd said nearly the exact same thing back at the lab.

"You can just drop me off at the lab, Nick, I'm sure you two have got…plans."

Renee bit her lip to keep from laughing as Grissom emphasized 'plans'. Obviously, given what Greg had not so kindly blurted out two weeks before to the graveyard shift CSIs, everyone knew pretty much what the first thing was on Nick's agenda when he and Renee arrived at home. Still, none of them knew the patience and caring Nick had with her. As much as she knew he'd be teased about thinking with his Southern Brain, Renee knew it was as much about passion and intimacy as much as it was satisfying that primal itch they felt around each other.

By the time they'd dropped Grissom off at the lab and headed to West Desert Drive, Nick could literally feel his fingers tingling with the thought of getting his hands on Renee again. He had always considered himself a healthily active young man, but when she flashed that smile, his thighs seemed to go to gelatine and all blood seemed to drain out of his head and concentrate below his belt. When they finally arrived home, he watched her drag a large luggage on wheels suitcase up the pathway to the front door, which he unlocked.

"You know," she grunted, the grin never leaving her face, "you could be a gentleman and help me with this."

"Are you kidding? That thing weighs like a yard of wet cement, and besides, I know you still jazzed about the interview; you need something to hang onto so you don't float away on cloud nine."

Tossing his keys aside, Nick took his jacket off, looked around his kitchen and living room space. He'd rearranged his furniture the previous weekend. "So, ah…" He took a few seconds to get his thoughts together, hoping it wasn't obvious what was at the forefront of his mind. "You hungry? I know plane-food kinda sucks. Anything you feel like having?" He turned back to face Renee.

"Oh yeah." In the blink of an eye, Renee had jumped into his arms and planted a whopping kiss on his open mouth, feasting like a starved woman. His arms wrapped around her first out of reaction. Her sudden movement had thrown him off balance so that they were now falling over the back of the couch, kissing passionately. When Renee stopped only for a moment, Nick lost all the spit in his mouth as he saw the gleam in her eye as she arched an auburn eyebrow at him.

"_You_."


	3. Feels Like Home

On Monday morning, following a full two days of sleep, sex and a double header baseball game on ESPN, Renee pulled into the parking lot of the lab in Nick's truck. She was nervous as a first grader at the start of class and hoped she wouldn't throw up, but she felt if she did, she'd have justifiable reason. She was about to begin the biggest interview of her career to date, an interview which would certainly land her paper in the national journal. She also felt no guilt in being thankful that he was going to be out working on a case with Greg and Catherine while she did her interview. The last thing she would have needed was to know both her lover and her big brother were hanging around the lab hoping to catch tidbits of her interview and be distracted from their own jobs. Not only would it have made the interview itself more nerve wracking but she also knew it would have fed the beast of the gossip mills.

Looking in the rear-view mirror, she tried to force herself to relax, remembering what Nick had said before he'd left that morning.

_Be straight forward, honest and most of all don't eat or drink anything he offers you_.

Renee smiled at the thought as she showed her temporary pass to the secretary Judy, who escorted her to the rear of the building to Grissom's office.

"Mr. Grissom, Ms Sanders is here."

Grissom looked up from his paperwork, closed the dossier as he smiled at the very obviously nervous Renee. "Thanks Judy. Have a seat, Renee."

"Thanks for letting me do this, Dr. Grissom." Renee sat in one of the chairs, pulled her clipboard and her mini recorder I'm sorry that it was on such short notice but when I spoke with Lieutenant Crane, he said you were one of the best guys you'd worked with, and if I had the opportunity to interview you for this paper, I should take it. Lucky for me, I happen to have a …personal connection within the lab."

"I've spoken to Horatio as well and he said you went through him to obtain the interview, so it's no problem at all Renee. It tells me you know when to use a colleague's connections and when to pull personal strings."

"Nice try, but I'm the one who does the analysis today, Doctor Grissom."

Grissom smiled, the corners of his mouth turning up briefly. The tension he'd felt when he'd agreed to the interview at Ecklie's request subsided as he studied the young woman in front of him. Dressed in simple jeans and a long sleeved shirt, a notebook balanced on her knee and reading glasses perched on her nose, she looked exactly what she was: an intelligent young woman who was both eager to make a name for herself and nervous as hell in front of him. Hoping to help ease her nerves, he nudged an open jar towards her.

"Chocolate cover ant?"

Renee giggled. "I'm good thanks."

Grissom shrugged, popped a few in his mouth. "To each his own. Personally, I think they taste like Glossette peanuts and have three times the protein. Anyways, shall we?"

"Okay." Breathing deeply, feeling a little more in her element, Renee switched on her mini recorder, fed in the appropriate information. "Renee Ingrid Sanders interviewing Dr. Gilbert Grissom date March 6th 2006 all data used in this interview will be used and annotated as per APA regulations. You began your career by studying biology at UCLA," she began.

As the interview pressed on, Grissom realized she wasn't the only one who'd needing to be put at ease. Though he would have been the first to admit he had no desire to be put on the couch, something about Renee's approach and mannerisms made him feel more like he was speaking with a friend as supposed to a shrink. When she switched off the recorder, Grissom realized he was a little disappointed to have his time cut short with her. Yet as she made her final notes, and packed her things up, he noticed she stayed seated in her chair.

"Thanks again, I've got a great start here with what we've talked about today. So then tomorrow we'll be working in the lab and I'll simply be making observations as supposed to the direct question and answer format."

"I'm looking forward to it." The hell of it was, Grissom wasn't lying when he said it. She had a brilliant brain, one he'd love to sit down and pick apart himself. Like himself, she also had to notice the small details, particularly body language.

"I do have one more question for you though," Renee added, and surprised the un-shakeable Grissom when she began to sign in ASL along with her question. "Has my idiot brother gotten into any more fights with Nick?"

Grissom smiled back, also signing as he spoke. "I'm surprised you know how to sign."

"I'm learning. I thought it might be a useful skill to have if I ever go into the private sector." Renee dropped her hands in her lap. "So have they?"

"No, they haven't." Since they were working on such an intimate level, Grissom decided to share with her the change he'd seen in one of his top CSI's. "I can say with all honesty, I've seen Nick go through some things you never want to see people you care about go through. If I were superstitious I'd say he's been doing penance so he could meet you."

Renee's mouth quirked, as she fought the blush that was working its way up her neck. "Well, thanks, that's…that's very sweet. Anyways, I don't want to keep you, I know you need to get ready for the night shift. I'll be here the same time tomorrow."

------

Nick was thoroughly exhausted as he parked his Denali beside his Chevy in the driveway. The banger case had turned out to be much more complicated than they'd all anticipated, since the dead man who'd been tossed from the back of a Buick on the corners of Chicane and Freemont was not a banger at all but an undercover cop. Now, after work close to a double, he wanted nothing more than to curl into a ball under the hot spray of the shower, maybe see if he could weasel a massage out of Renee and have an iced tea or maybe a beer that would put him into a coma like sleep.

When he unlocked the front door, he was immediately hit with the familiar smells of his house – the citrus scent of his air fresheners, the cigars he liked once in a while and the leather of his living room furniture – but there were new ones mixed with it. The lingering scent of Renee's fruity Molokai soap, her beloved Roots perfume and the tantalizing scent of grilled steak and onions were all foreign to his nose upon entering his house after work. There was also the TV left on to a baseball movie on cable, the sound turned so low Nick could only make out the smallest of phrases.

Crossing over to the fridge, he noticed the little note pinned to the door with a magnet shaped like a football

-_Nick _

_Steak is in the fridge, I tried to wait up but it didn't work. See you in the morning._

_Hugs and kisses, Renee_.

Nick smiled, pulled the plate of steak out of the fridge and popped it in the microwave. When he went over to the couch to pick up the remote and turn off the television, he realized that Renee was not, in fact in bed as he'd assumed, but stretched out on the couch, her head pillowed on his A&M cushion. Moving softly, he went to take the remote out of her hand but before he so much as brushed her skin, he heard her say, "You change the channel and you're a dead man."

Nick glanced over at her; saw she still had her eyes closed. "How'd you know it's me?"

"All part of my charm." Renee opened her eyes now, propped herself up briefly when Nick sat down on the couch, then plonked her head back down so it was resting on his lap. "How was work?"

"Long. You know I need to get back up to get my steak, right?"

"Don't care. I TiVo'd an _Animal Planet_ special on birds for you. You can show up Grissom and his chocolate cover ants. Crazy bug man wanted me to eat them."

The timer dinged on the microwave then, and Nick hoped she wasn't too pissed off when he got up to get it, and came back with ice tea for himself and a beer for her as a means of peace offering.

"So what are we watching?" he asked as he sat back down, propping his feet up on the table. Renee laid her head back in his lap, keeping a death grip on the remote she knew he'd try to steal from her.

"_Eight Men Out._"

"Never saw it."

Renee twisted, sent him a withering look. "Oh honey, you call yourself a baseball fan? I'm definitely not letting you change the channel now."

As she turned up the volume then began to snore lightly a few minutes later, Nick draped his arm over her waist, a kind of serene calm washing over him. He'd never felt tension from work dissolve so completely. It wasn't just the steak waiting for him at home, since he'd make himself leftovers plenty of time, or being able to put his feet up.

It was because Renee had been waiting for him at home.

And it was a feeling he didn't want to go away any time soon.


	4. Greggo Grows Up A Little More

The following afternoon, as Renee got into Nick's Chevy, she didn't bother trying to keep the grin for herself. The second part of the interview had been dreams come true for her, to see the master working in the lab. Grissom had never once brushed her aside or treated her like a child. He treated her like a colleague, just has Horatio did in Miami; not once did he play the 'you're not a CSI so you don't understand card'; he'd been patient and sweet with her, not saying a word if she made any missteps.

Not unlike, she mused embarrassedly, the way Nick had been the second night they were together on her first visit to Vegas. She wondered what had turned her into such an animal for sex since she'd hooked up with him. Granted, she hadn't had all that much experience with it but even so, she knew enough to know it was good loving she was getting from her oh-so-sexy Texan.

And clearly that showed how much she needed a break from the world of forensics. Deciding to be the ultimate girlfriend, she pulled out her cell phone, dialled Nick's number as she pulled out of the lot, breaking at the stop sign before starting to turn. For the first time in her life, she was thankful she got a voicemail instead of a live person.

_Hey it's Stokes, you know the drill_.

"Hi it's Renee," she said after the beep, "I'm just leaving the lab and thought I'd leave a message, see if you want me to pick up anything-"

It was as far as she glanced up at the large pick-up truck hurtling towards the stop sign that was showing no signs of slowing at his stop sign. Renee hammered the brakes with a hissing squeal, threw the gearshift in reverse and tried to back up as the grill of the truck came dangerously close to her window. Then all Renee heard was the sound of metal crushing against metal; she felt herself going sideways as she tried to twist the wheel so she could get out of the path of the truck. The big black truck, she noted, with silver lightening streaks down its sides and a license plate NRS 249.

_That'll teach me not to talk on a cell phone in the car, _was the last conscious thought she had before everything turned black.

* * *

Nick yawned hugely as he stripped off his protective latex gloves, made some notes to add to the case file. He and Greg had spent the better part of their day scouring the four-block radius from the dump site of the body hoping to find something, anything, that would help lead to Detective Jeremy Nestor's assassin. Now, as he sat on the bumper of his Denali, he was about to check for messages on his cell phone, which he'd felt vibrate on his way back to the truck when Greg came over, sat down beside him. 

"You find anything?"

"No, not a damn thing, no blood trails, no tire marks, nothing. You?" Nick asked as he switched his phone from vibrate to standard ring.

"Same."

"So what do we have, then?"

Greg rolled his neck, stretched. "We've got a cop tossed from the back of a car around twelve-twenty Friday night, wearing gang-banger clothing with a three dollar chip in one pocket and a two of hearts in the other."

"No signs of a struggle on the street, suggesting that it was done somewhere else."

"And the door-to-door turned up nothing," Greg finished. "Big surprise there."

Nick opened his mouth like he was going to speak then shut it, something that didn't go unnoticed by Greg.

"What?"

"Nothing, really…" Nick trailed off, as he busied himself with putting his kit back together. "I was just thinking…. Renee's specialty is in forensic psychiatry."

"Oh, no, forget it man," Greg replied. He could see this one coming a mile off. "I'm not going to Grissom saying that we think my sister and your girlfriend-" Greg felt his stomach revolt only a little at the word "-should be brought into the case as a consultant."

"I'm proud of you, Gregg-o, that's the first time I think you've called Renee my girlfriend without gagging." Nick paused. "Is it really that weird for you?"

"Well, I mean on the one hand, she is my baby sister, you know, I used to bandage up her knees when she crashed her bike. Sometimes it is hard for me to think of you two…well, you know."

Nick laughed as Greg continued, "But on the other hand, I've never seen either of you this happy before."

Nick's phone went off then, the polyphonic tune of _Come Together_ splitting through the heat of the afternoon sun. "Stokes."

"Nick, Grissom."

"Hey, how goes it with Renee? She grill you like a flank roast, or what?"

"Nick, it's about Renee. There's been an accident. She was broadsided this afternoon leaving the lab in your truck."

Nick felt the feeling go out of his hands, all the spit leaving his mouth, but somehow he managed to ask, "Where is she now?"

"They took her to Desert Palms."

"I'm on my way."

Greg looked at his friend as Nick leapt off the bumper, packed his field kit and notes. Judging from the look on his face he knew it couldn't be good news; either Nick was in trouble for something he did, or something he hadn't done. "What's up?"

"Renee was in a car wreck this afternoon when she left the lab. They took her to Desert Palms."

Greg's gut went to ice in the space of a heartbeat. "I'll drive."

* * *

When they arrived on the ICU floor, Grissom was standing guard with Brass outside Renee's room. One look at Nick's face told Grissom that he was hanging on to his control by one very slippery thread. 

"Her doctor's in there, she just came out of surgery," Grissom began, hoping to head them off before he became lost in a sea of questions. Thankfully a young Hispanic looking woman stepped out of a nearby room, and presented herself as Doctor Minaret, Renee's physician.

"How…" Nick began but had to stop when his throat slammed shut. "How bad is it?"

Minaret smiled kindly. This must have been the young man Doctor Grissom had said was falling hard for her patient. She took his elbow, guided him over to a bench in an alcove, knowing that there might be a chance for raised voices.

"She's a very lucky young woman. The vehicle broadsided the driver door so unfortunately, she was at the impact site. She's got a hairline fracture in her clavicle, three broken fingers, five bruised ribs, a jammed shoulder, and a concussion. There was also considerable damage to her knee which we'll finish repairing with surgery tomorrow and some bruising to her abdomen. It's amazing she was still conscious when they found her."

"That's lucky?" Greg spat.

Minaret looked up, deducing that this was Miss Sanders' brother from his protective streak. She found herself slightly jealous of the woman lying in a bed fifteen feet away who was so lucky to have two men in her life who loved her that much. "Yes it is. All her personal effects were collected at the site; one of your CSIs picked them up. She kept mumbling something like a code, maybe you guys can figure it out."

"Can we see her?"

"She might come around in a couple of hours, so if you're interested in hanging around, I'd find some comfortable chairs," Minaret suggested. Judging from the looks on these men's faces it would take a full keg of gunpowder to shake them into leaving. "If you want to see her right now, I can only let one in at a time. She's on some class-one painkillers but those aren't necessarily a sedative and she needs rest."

The doctor excused herself then, leaving the trio of CSIs and Brass to look at each other and figure out who was going to be the first to go in and see Renee. Then the three older men got a big shock when Greg piped up.

"Nick, I want to you go in first," he said calmly.

"What?"

"You should go in first. I need to call our parents, let them know she's okay, and I want you guys," Greg added, pointing at Grissom and Brass, "to go back to the lab, and see if we can find anything out."

Impressed with the way his youngest CSI took charge, Grissom nodded solemnly, left with Brass following in his wake. Once alone, Nick looked questioningly at his colleague. This was a very tricky line to walk.

"You sure you want me to go in first?"

"I think if she wakes up, you're the first person she's going to want to see."


	5. Bedside Confessions

Time seemed to crawl by, as minutes slowly turned into hours. Why did hospital time always seem to slow down so much? Nick wondered as he sat beside Renee's bed. The muscles in his neck were screaming bloody murder and his eyelids seemed to have lead weights attached to them, yet he managed to keep awake. He'd stopped trying to count how many hours it had been since he and Greg had gotten Grissom's call. Greg had managed to stave off his parents coming to see their baby girl, assuring them it was not nearly as bad as it was with a promise that as soon as she was able, both Renee and Nick were expected to go to California to see her parents.

He chewed his thumbnail as he looked as his Renee, his girl, lying there looking so broken. The left side of her face was swollen and purple, like a five year old with a case of caffeine shakes had drawn on her with a Magic Marker. Her left arm was in a sling strapped tight against the body and her heart rate beeped out on the monitor.

It shouldn't have been possible, he thought. It shouldn't have been possible for someone like her to have gotten so close, so quick, but…she was amazing. There was no other way to say it; she was simply the most amazing woman he'd ever met in his life. He'd missed her, had an actual tangible ache in his being when he'd gone home after taking her to the airport when they'd met. The smell of her perfume was still on the air, the sound of her laughing when they'd strolled into his house and had just barely closed the door before they'd jumped each other. When he'd woken up in the middle of the night after having a nightmare about his burial – they came so rarely now that when they did they scared the living piss out of him – he realized he'd reached for her in his sleep and woke up alone.

Shifting in his chair, Nick leaned forward, took her hand lightly in his. "It's, ah, about eleven o'clock at night," he said, after a glance at his watch, "and you've had quite a lot visitors tonight. Catherine, Warrick, Sara, they've all been in to check on you. Greg's been here the whole time; we've been taking turns staying here with you. You're lucky you have such a caring big brother. When I was twenty, and I crashed my hog, Aaron just told me to walk it off even though my foot was broken in three places."

He lifted her hand to his lips, grazed the skin with a light kiss. "It's funny how it takes something like this to make men show emotions; I guess because you don't have a chance to yap back. I…I've missed you. I didn't think it was the kind of thing I was in to, that I could do. When we got home from the airport on Friday night, it felt so great to have you coming home after work with me, and for you to be there waiting for me when I got in last night. It felt…right. I've never had a long term relationship before and hell, we've only been together two weeks, but…last night it felt like we'd known each other forever."

"I don't know who's a bigger girl, you or my sister."

Nick looked over his shoulder, saw Greg hold two cups of coffee and an amused smile on his face. "Just talking. What's with the face?"

Greg shrugged as he handed Nick one of the take-out Starbucks cups, sat in the chair on the other side of his sister. "Nothing's with my face, I just ran into a friend."

"A lady friend?" When Greg just sipped his coffee, Nick grinned devilishly. "Come on, now, G-man. You accidentally bump into her lips or something?"

"Her name is Nadine, and she's a paediatric nurse. We've had a few dates."

"Any overnights?"

"Didn't I just say we had a few dates?"

Nick chuckled, looked at Renee. "She'd be laughing her ass off that you'd consider a date incomplete without sex and she is supposed to be some lily white schoolgirl."

Their laughter died instantly when Renee emitted a soft moan. In a flash both Nick and Greg were on their feet, studying Renee's face carefully. Nick felt the hand in his flex weakly as she struggled through the fog of drugs.

"Renee? Come on, now, baby wake up."

"Nick? Greg?" The words were slurred and heavy but they were words, in her voice. Her eyelids fluttered open slowly, the dark blue of her irises cloudy from medication.

Nick felt the tears well up as if on cue, struggled to hold them back. "We're here, sweetie, we're here."

"Hurt."

"Yeah, you're a little banged up, but you're gonna be just fine." It was a toss up as to who the reassurance was for but right now, all Nick cared about was the fact that she was awake.

"No, hurt...your truck. Insurance…going to spike."

"Trust you to think of that now," Greg gave a watery laugh.

"Big…black…truck…Dodge Hemi."

Nick smiled, kissing her forehead lightly; he knew Renee was an excessive dreamer. He'd done the same thing in the hospital after his abduction when he was on serious drugs.

"Drove through…sign…silver…streak…bug guard."

"It's okay Renee, just take it easy."

"Inn…Are…Ess…four…two…nine."

Nick and Greg looked at each other, stunned.

"Inn…Are…Ess…four…two…nine," she repeated. "Okay, nap time."

When Renee once again fell asleep, her breathing evening out, Nick stared dumbfounded at Greg. "That sounds like a license plate."

"I'll call Brass, get him to run it."

As Greg left to place the call, Nick sat back down once again with his girlfriend, once again picking up her hand, this time kissing the delicate, capable.

"I know you're sleeping again, so I'm thinking I'm safe in telling you this," Nick whispered. "Remember when we were at the airport two weeks ago, and I said something to you in Spanish? It means, I love you, my Norwegian sweetheart."

Nick let his head droop then, finally succumbing to the exhaustion. He never saw Greg hovering in the doorway, a look of shock on his face.


	6. Nurse Nadine and Another Clue

The following morning, after a night of nearly no sleep and very little concentration on the case, Warrick strolled down the hallway of the ICU to the waiting lounge, saw Nick and Greg curled like boiled shrimp on the god-awful couches. Both were wearing their clothes from the day before, letting anyone know they hadn't left the hospital since they'd arrived. For a moment, Warrick debated as to who he should wake up first, then remembered that Nick had accidentally punched him one time in his early stages of waking up. Opting for a much safer route, Warrick approached Greg first, gently shook his shoulder.

"Greggo, c'mon man, wake up," he murmured.

Greg did so with a jolt like he'd been jabbed in the ass with a pin. His hair was even more wild than normal, the blond spikes sticking out at right angles to his head. He rubbed the heels of his hands over his eyes, trying to clear out the cobwebs and gave Warrick a nod of acknowledgement.

"Hey, Rick. What time is it?"

"Just after nine."

"Oh, okay." That meant Renee had been through her two hours of surgery; only one more to go. "Has Minaret been in at all?"

"No, not yet," Warrick started, then glanced over when a pretty honey-blond nurse knocked on the door.

"Greg? I just wanted to come by and let you know I took a pass through the gallery. So far everything's going good with Renee's surgery."

"Thanks, Nadine," Greg nodded, a little of the stress leaving his shoulders.

"You look like hell warmed over. Why don't we wake up Nick, get some food, and maybe you can grab a shower back at the lab?" Warrick suggested.

"I don't know, man-"

"It's still going to be awhile. I'll call you. You know, if I get any more updates," Nadine interjected, her cheeks going a little pink when Greg smiled back.

Warrick kept the grin over the exchange to himself. He'd recognized the young woman from the shin-dig Tina had dragged him to, and Warrick in turn had dragged Greg, who'd ended up flirting with Nadine the entire night. Instead, he glanced over at Nick, who was still fast asleep.

"How's he holding up?"

Greg shrugged. "I don't know, I mean it's my sister, his girlfriend who's under the knife so I suppose it's a toss up."

Warrick stood then, went over to his best friend and gave him a quick nudge on the shoulder. Unlike Greg who'd woken up like he was fighting a pack of wild men, Nick simply groaned, put a hand to his eyes.

"No."

"No, what?"

"Just no." Nick tried to roll over onto his other side, but it didn't quite work when he simply ran into the back of the couch. He muttered then hauled himself upright. "I heard you and Greg talking, I'm not going anywhere."

"Come on," Warrick chided, "Sara's waiting at that place across the street. You need food and you definitely need to use some soap."

"I'm not going anywhere. Bring me a sandwich or something. I'll shower later."

Warrick opened his mouth again to say something but stopped himself when he saw the look on Greg's face. It was one he'd seen on his face before, one that meant he had secrets he was dying to share but couldn't because of present company. Warrick just stuffed his hands in his pockets.

"Fine."

Warrick waited until they were out of the room before pouncing onto Greg. "What the hell, Sanders?"

"I'll tell you over a pair of sunny-side up and wheat toast."

* * *

"You're joking."

"I'm not, Sara."

"You're joking," Sara repeated, her fork of omelette pausing on her way to her mouth.

"Is there an echo in here? I was standing five feet away from him," Greg retorted. "I know what I heard."

"I just…I can't picture Nick being all gooey like that over someone he just met."

Warrick stirred cream into his coffee, tapped the spoon on the side of the mug. "I can. I mean, come on, it's Nick. He's like…a schmoozer."

"They'll have such pretty red-head children," Greg said to no one in particular as he cut into his BLT. "Should we get Nick a sandwich?"

"Two weeks ago you ago you wanted to get Bobby Dawson's guns on the guy for so much as buying her a drink and now you're predicting nieces and nephews?" Sara looked at him incredulously. "You don't even know if this is really something he feels or if it was just said in the heat of the moment. Situations like that…well they make you do funny things you wished you hadn't."

"Listen to you Miss Cynic. Whatsa matter, Grissom turn down another dinner?" Warrick winced as she socked him in the shoulder.

"I told you that in confidence, you snitch." The fact of it was Grissom _hadn't_ turned her down the second time, Sara mused, but that could wait. Warrick's gossiping wagon needed a fix. "Maybe you should just learn to keep your mouth shut."

Before the fight could get underway, Greg's cell phone began to play the Solomon Burke tune he'd set for Nadine. He spoke in murmured responses, the tips of his ears turning red as he tried to turn towards the window and away from the prying of his colleagues. When he hung up, Greg tugged at his collar and busied himself with wiping his mouth with his napkin.

"Renee's through surgery and it looks like she's going to regain full use of her knee, so she can keep doing her martial arts. Nadine said we can go in and visit in an hour or so."

"It took nearly three minutes to say just that?" Warrick ran his tongue over his teeth as he shared a quick smile with Sara.

"Well there was other stuff too," Greg muttered, not wanting to admit that the words Nadine had tossed around for spending their night off together, like 'wine' 'Jacuzzi' and 'satin sheets' made him salivate like a starving man hearing about a Big Mac. "Anyways, we should go."

Just then, Warrick's cell phone rang as well, and after the call was finished, he just shook his head. "Looks like the visit will have to wait. They found the owner of the truck that hit Renee. She was bang on with the license plate."

"Brass tracked him down?"

"He's cooling his heels at the station as we speak."


	7. Bedside Confessions II

Back at the hospital, Nick had once again taken up his post at Renee's side; this time he'd added the pretence of reading a chapter out of a Dan Brown novel. He ran his tongue over his teeth, absently thought of calling Greg and asking him to bring him his spare toothbrush from his locker at the lab. It had been nearly forty-eight hours since he'd seen his bed and the whimper of his muscles had now turned into a full blown scream. His head felt like it had been coated with butter and someone had poured a litre of olive oil through his stomach. But he wasn't going anywhere and leaving Renee alone in a strange hospital in a strange city. Trying to focus again, he turned himself back to the minute-by-minute play of international espionage.

A soft knock on the door had him looking up, saw a young looking nurse with honey-blond hair and worry in her eyes. She wore a pair of bright scrubs in that bright funky colour that could be described as neither blue nor purple, and she carried a small lunch cooler in her right hand.

"Can I help you?"

"Oh, sorry, I'm Nadine. Nadine Barton…Greg's girlfriend?" she finished hopefully as she walked over, holding out her hand. "I'm guessing you're the boyfriend."

"Right, sorry, Nadine," Nick returned the handshake. "Greg's not here, he went to get some food with Warrick, and I guess they got called in."

"That's okay, I came by to check on Renee. I promised Greg updates, plus I'm on my lunch break now, and I started at five, so my body's saying it's time to eat." Nadine sat down, pulled out a sandwich. "I made extra, in case Greg was here, but since he's not, you hungry?"

"Like you read about." Nick accepted the ham-and-turkey sub, moaned at the added burst of hot sauce and mozzarella. "You're a saint, Nadine."

Nadine just smiled as she bit into her own, chewed thoughtfully. "Has she woken up at all?"

"Not yet, but the doctor said that she was lucid in the post-op room so it's just a matter of time now."

"What about your work?"

"My boss put me on leave until she's better."

"That was nice of him."

Nick shrugged. "I think it was more so that I wouldn't be distracted in the field from worrying about her, and screw up a procedure."

"I know. I was there, when they brought her in, on an ER rotation and when I heard the name _Sanders_, bells went off." Nadine licked a drip of mayonnaise off her thumb. "Greg loves his sister so much. He's such a good big brother."

Nick looked over at Nadine, at the slight sigh in her voice when she mentioned his colleague. "So, things between you and Greg, are they serious?"

"I think they're starting to get that way. I mean, the night we met, I could tell he was a little different, and not like that," she said defensively when Nick let out a short laugh, "he wasn't all pretentious like most guys are when they hear the word nurse."

"Pretentious," Nick repeated.

"Yes, they hear that and they immediately think sweet girl, wild sexual side, dedicated to her profession and determined to wreck as many doctors' marriages as possible. Most guys would have spent the night trying to get into my pants."

"I'm surprised Greg didn't."

"Oh no, he did," Nadine said matter-of-factly, making Nick laugh again, "but the way he did it was...genuine. When he asked me about my work, he meant it; it wasn't a conversational springboard to sex."

Nick thought of the night he met Renee and their first exchanges in the bar at the Orpheus. "It runs in the family."

"I smell ranch dressing."

At the words, Nick leapt out of his chair, stood over Renee, who had now opened her eyes, and was blinking rapidly as if to try and clear them. Her right arm lifted slightly, grabbed onto the bedside railing.

"Nick?"

"Good morning, sunshine," he said softly, his throat swelling shut.

Nadine, who'd set aside her lunch, immediately shifted into nurse mode. "Renee, do you know where you are?"

"I am in the Desert Palms hospital in Las Vegas Nevada," she replied slowly. "My truck, well Nick's truck, was t-boned as I was leaving the lab."

"Do you know what day it is?"

"How long was I out for?"

"About forty two hours."

"That means that it's about eleven on Wednesday morning, March the seventh, two thousand and six."

"Good girl," Nadine murmured. "And what did you have for breakfast on Monday?"

"Didn't. Skipped it, 'cause I was too nervous. I had to interview Grissom and thought it wouldn't stay down. Just orange juice and some tea. But Sunday, we had a big breakfast. Bacon, sausage, toast, home fries and Nick had two eggs over medium, and I had an orange. Can I sit up?"

Nadine brushed past Nick to adjust the bed so that Renee wouldn't be flat on her back.

"How…how bad am I banged up?"

"The doctor should be in shortly to give you an update." Knowing that they would probably need a minute alone, Nadine gathered up her lunch and left quietly to go and call Greg. One look at Nick's face told her his grip on his emotions could go at anytime. The last thing he needed was an audience.

In her room, Renee gently flexed her weakened hand in Nick's strong one. "Honey, why don't you go and get a shower, or something? You are starting to smell a little ripe."

"As soon as someone else is here. I am not leaving you alone."

"You will have to eventually, Nick, since you do have to keep up your job."

"Grissom put me on paid personal leave, so once again, I am not going anywhere."

Renee smiled briefly, before the pain under her ribs flared up. It was instantaneous, but it still made her want to cry. "Seriously, Nick, how bad amI banged up?"

"Your knee took the worst of the damage, and you've got a hairline fracture in your collarbone. You're going to need a wheelchair for a few days, until you're given the clear for crutches, I think, so your collarbone can heal."

"My face?"

"Always a female." Nick brushed a hand over her forehead. The worst of the bruising had subsided, so that only the patch of purple under her cheekbone remained. Above her left eyebrow, a trio of stitched were kept under some nifty white medical tape. But the deep blue-green eyes were the same, albeit slightly cloudy from pain medication. They were the same blue-green eyes that he'd fallen for hard and fast that night at the Orpheus. She had eyes a man could drown in, framed by long black lashes that bumped against her reading glasses.

"You're beautiful."

"Really?"

"Well, a beauty who won a few rounds against the champ." Nick tapped his knuckles lightly to her chin before feathering the fingers over her cheek. He kissed her then, softly, sweetly. When he drew back, saw the clouds disappear from her eyes, he took her hand, kissed the back of it hard.

"Don't ever scare me like that again."

"Okay, I promise. Just please do me a favour."

"Anything."

"Go and get some mints or something. You may taste like heaven and hot sauce, but your breath is scary."

As she watched him walk out of the room, Renee rubbed the fingers he'd kissed over her cheek. The sensation of his lips on her had yet to leave, and she pressed them together, as though she was trying to seal it in.

"Love you baby," she added softly, as she waited for him to return.


	8. Of Memos and Men

Meanwhile, over in the lab, Sarah stepped out into the hallway after the questions and answers were completed with the owner of the pick-up truck, rolled her shoulders back. It was not a good week, work wise. First there'd been the complications with this case, then the added stress of Nick being on personal leave meant the rest of them had to siphon out the workload between them. On top of which, the entire team was worried about how Renee was doing, not to mention how Greg and Nick were handling it.

"Sara."

Sara's breath hitched in her chest as she heard Grissom's voice behind her but she didn't break her stride back to the layout room. Her stomach had been in knots ever since their dinner the week before, and not because of the fact that it had gone poorly. It had been fantastic, to sit with him and eat a real meal, without the chemical smell of the lab work constantly wafting over their table. But that had been a week ago, and there'd been nothing since to indicate if there would be another opportunity like it. Granted it was Grissom, and he was stoic as a statue when it came to discussing personal things, especially at work. Obviously she didn't expect large and disgusting displays of affection or anything from him; it simply wasn't his style. She knew that he cared for her, in his way.

It'd be nice, though, just once for him to let that gruff business-as-usual demeanour go, and bloody well _do_ something to make her think that it was more than that to him, as it was to her.

Rather than letting him see what was truly bothering her, she feigned a distracted smile and looked over her shoulder. "Sorry, Grissom, I've… been a little preoccupied. It's been a busy couple of days."

Grissom pursed his lips. "Yes it has. The interview with your suspect?"

"Apparently Elijah Golden, the RO of the vehicle said he'd lent his truck to his buddies for a few days, Warrick is trying to track them down."

"How are you holding up?"

"Good, I guess. I mean I'm worried about Greg and Nick like everyone else, and I really hope Renee recovers quickly." Sara would have cut out her own tongue before admitting to him at work she was anxious. The last thing she needed was anything from her personal life feeding the already voracious beast that was the CSI lab gossip mill. She turned her attention back to the case file on the desk, pretending to read the comments she'd made in the interview. "I, ah, have a lot to catch up on here, since we're out a man."

Grissom handed her the file from under his arm. "Greg and Nick's notes, updated as of Tuesday, they might be of help to you."

"Thanks." She took the file from him, set it down neatly beside her own notes. "I, uh…yeah, this'll be fine."

"Good." He turned on his heel, smiling his pensive little smile. For all her guards and defences, Sara could be so easy to read some days.

Back in the layout room, Sara picked up the dossier Grissom had left with her, opened to find a note, written in Grissom's hand, and it was definitely not part of the case file.

_Friday night, 7pm. Dinner at the Colossus, dessert at my place._

The blood immediately rushed into Sara's cheeks, partly from embarrassment, partly from her own stupidity, but mostly at the idea of just what that dessert might involve. She took the note, folded it neatly in her pocket, and tried her very best to put the naughty thoughts a-brewing in her head aside. She still had work to do.

She never noticed when Grissom walked back, hovered in the door way for a few seconds and heard her humming 'Who Loves You' by the Four Seasons.

* * *

"Eighteen down. Four letters, domicile or dwelling?"

"Home?"

"Yes, you should go home."

Nick just smiled. "Nice try sweetie, but forget it."

Much of the tension of the last several hours had dissipated enormously. It was now eight at night and Renee had stayed awake since Nadine had been in for lunch. Greg had provided Nickwith a temporary relief of his bedside post to get a shower and a few things for Renee such as her reading glasses and her crossword book. The doctor had been in and said that writing would be a good test of her left hand for its strength and mobility. Now, almost every clue she asked him for help on turned into an urge for him to get some proper rest.

"Nick, really, I do like the whole glued to your every move stuff, but aren't you tired?"

"I'm bloody freaking close to tears with exhaustion but I am not the one who has had major surgery on a major joint in the last forty-eight hours."

"Touché," Renee murmured, then felt the smile on her face broaden when she saw Nadine perched in the doorway. She was out of her scrubs and carried a faded denim jacket on her arm. "Come in, Nadine, please tell this crazy boyfriend of mine to get some sleep."

"Got it covered. I just called Greg."

Nick paled a little. "You called Greg?"

"Yeah, I did."

"And he's going to stay here with her?"

"Yeah, he is."

"Okay," Nick said reluctantly as he stood, kissing Renee's cheek. "I'll head down to meet him, I guess. You get some sleep. I'll be here at eight tomorrow morning."

When he was gone, Nadine laughed as she shook her head, came over to sit on the edge of Renee's bed. "Men are so gullible."

"You really didn't call Greg to baby-sit me the entire night did you?"

Nadine snorted. "Please. My shift is over for the night, he's on his way to pick me up. Then we're heading back to my apartment for a sleepover."

"Thank you so much for that lovely image of you romping naked with my big bro."

"No worse than what goes through Greg's mind when he thinks of you and Nick having a pillow fight."

"Yeah, I guess so," Renee laughed, wincing only a little at the sharp pain to her ribs. "Thanks, though for kicking Nick out of here. He's so wonderfully sweet, but he's so firkin stubborn, I am tempted to check his skull and see if he has his very own set of Texas longhorns under that head of hair."

"I could tell you needed some down time just for you. You're getting out of here tomorrow afternoon, so you know he's not going to leave your side when you get home. I figured you could use a breather on your own."

"You figured right."

"He loves you," Nadine said in a singsong voice.

"You think so?"

"If I didn't know better, I'd have guessed you two were already married, not dating for three weeks. Do you love him back?"

Before Renee could answer, Greg knocked on the door, strolled in to hug Nadine. "Hey Gizmo. How's the knee?"

"Doc's cutting me loose tomorrow at four."

"That's great. You ready to go, babe?"

"Yeah, just saying goodnight to your sister." Nadine stood up, put on her coat. "Get some rest, Renee, and keep up your PT exercises. That boy's face says you're gonna need it for after your knee is better."

Renee heard Greg's hisses of indignation as they walked down the hallway, then turned over on her side. _People and their gutter minds_, she thought as she floated off to sleep.


	9. Bathtubs or Bookshelves

By Friday evening, Renee had just about had enough of Nick's tender Texan love and care. She could barely brush her teeth without him hovering; it amazed her that she wasn't clicking her heels together and saluting him. Now, Renee stood hesitantly beside the bathtub in Nick's house, hoping for just a few moments of freedom. She'd faked her snores when he ducked in to check on her, then slipped off the bed as quietly as possible, knowing he was out in the living room watching his beloved _Discovery Channel_. She was crazy about the man no question, but he was such a mother hen when it came to her well being that she wanted to clean his clock. Just for an hour or so, she wanted the solitude of the bath and a chapter from her book where she could feel like her pre-accident self and not the invalid he was treating her as.

"Okay," she whispered to herself, "Water is perfect, bubbles are foaming, and clothes are coming off."

Her pyjamas were simply a Texas A&M T-shirt, the same one she'd borrowed from Nick the last time they'd snuggled, and a pair of cotton boxers. She wiggled her hips so that they slid down to her feet, but when she went to step out of them, her feet tangled. Flailing like a windmill, Renee stumbled into the toilet, knocking over the can of shaving cream and the hairspray sitting on the lid of the tank, then back onto the edge of the tub.

Nick heard the noise in the bathroom and was up in a flash. He burst in the door to find Renee red-faced and sitting on the side of his bathtub. The flesh around her knee was puffy but there appeared to be no fresh damage to it.

"Honey what are you doing in here?"

"I wanted to take a bath." Renee looked down at her knees, trying to keep her temper in check and hoping it didn't come off as shame.

"Why didn't you come and get me?"

"I'm not a child, Nick; I can take a bath on my own."

Nick leaned on the doorframe. The woman was so damned mulish, she wouldn't let herself be taken care of when she obviously needed it. "You're also recovering from knee surgery, and not asking for help was just plain damn stupid."

"I'm on some pretty heavy painkillers right now, so forgive me if I'm not thinking straight."

"And clearly you're not."

Renee's head snapped up at the sharpness in his voice. "Don't talk to me like that, you ass; you're not the one who's been poked and prodded and taken care of by a bunch of uniformed strangers the last four days. And you're also not the one everyone is treating like fine china that might shatter if the wrong thing gets said."

"Hey, don't act like I've never been beaten or bruised," Nick's voice rose, as his own patience began to tear. "I was bloody buried alive last June, and believe me, it was no small task getting over that."

"What is the big deal, I just wanted to feel a little bit like myself by having a bath where I didn't need someone to hold my hand. Is that really too much to ask?"

"You don't think it's hard on us, seeing you like that?" Nick was shouting now but he didn't care. "Do you think it's easy for me? I love you but I swear to God, right now, I wanna beat that thick skull of yours on a rock, so don't tempt me to find-"

Renee's eyes popped, wide as saucers. "What did you say?"

"I said I'm just about at the end of my tolerance with your stubbornness, Renee-"

"No, before that. What did you say?"

Nick opened his mouth, as realization dawned on him what he'd just let slip off his tongue.

"I said I love you."

It was a full tackle on her heart. It scared the living piss out of her. There had never been words like that before in her life from a boyfriend. Yet somehow, Renee found her mouth taking on a life of its own and the words were spilling out of her before she could stop them.

"I love you too, Nick. But you have been making me just as crazy!" she laughed, her voice wavering slightly.

Nick sat down on the closed toilet lid, taking one of Renee's hands and kissing it. "I want to ask you something. When you're done your degree in Miami, I want you to move in here with me, in Las Vegas."

"Oh, Nick I don't know…" Renee trailed off.

"Think about it, you know? You'll be close to your brother and Nadine, and babe, let's face it, Las Vegas has some pretty funky people with lots of money. There is no shortage of them in need of a shrink."

"Don't you think that's a little quick? We've only been together for like three weeks."

"I'm not saying it should happen right away. But I meant what I said the last time you were here, that I think this has a chance to go somewhere Renee. All I'm asking is that you think about it."

"That I can do. So…" Renee trailed off on a blush as she leaned forward to kiss him. "Are you going to say it again?"

His response, "That you have a rock-hard skull?" nearly earned him a punch in the shoulder, but Nick was quicker. He scooped Renee up, carried her like Rhett and Scarlette into his bedroom; minding her knee he lay beside her as he stroked his hands over her stomach, up her ribs to brush the undersides of her breasts.

"You know what I mean. I love you, temper tantrums included."

"And I love you bum knee and all."

* * *

"Is this the races in Miami?"

"No that was up in Sacramento. The only time the entire crew made it across the finish line."

Sara stood in Grissom's apartment, her hands wrapped around a cup of hot jasmine tea and looking at a framed picture of Grissom with a jar of his 'pet' roaches. She wondered if he secretly referred to them as his 'babies'. They just come back from their dinner at the Colossus and she was starting to relax a little. She'd worn the only thing she thought qualified as sexy in her wardrobe, a pair of swishy black slacks and a graceful sleeveless blouse in a burnt sienna hue, and at the last moment added a pair of amber drops suspended on thin gold chains that dangled to her jawbone. So far things had been very non-stressful, just them talking over bread and Greek food, and the idea of dessert with him – alone in his apartment – it now seemed, well…fun. She kept the serene secretive smile on her face as she sipped on the fragrant tea and thought about what he might have planned.

Looking over her shoulder at him, Sara smiled softly as he puttered a bit in the kitchen. Grissom had removed his jacket and tie, and rolled up the sleeves of his powder blue shirt – what was it about a man in a powder blue shirt, Sara mused, that made the salive pool in a female mouth – and appeared to be making coffee. He'd removed his shoes and padded over the tile in his socks, stopping at his tabletop solarium briefly to tap 'hello' on the glass to his tarantula Shiloh. Here at home there was a kind of softness to his efficiency, something she knew very few people would have been privileged to see.

Turning back, Sara continued to look at the pictures on the wall, the found her focus drawn in by a shot that seemed a little out of place. It was not hanging on the walls like the other ones in a perfect matte; this one was a snapshot in a rimless frame on the chest-level shelf of his bookcase. It was a simple photograph of Grissom performing a lecture at the body farm. The look on his face as he faced his students was one of authority that was inexplicably erotic, as though he were about to cut through the crowd to greet his lover.

"I haven't seen this one before." Sara set aside her tea to pick up the photo.

"That was in Vegas right after my promotion."

Sara nodded as she remembered that day when she'd seen his name pop up on her caller ID. Then for some unknown reason, she blurted out, "You look very powerful. Sexual, even."

"I was thinking of you."

Stunned, Sara's eyebrows shot upwards. Her hands shook a little as she replaced the photo. "You were? I mean, uh…about asking me to come to Vegas or the fact I'd just gotten there?" She was stammering a little, she knew but she couldn't seem to pull it together. Not when he was walking towards her slowly, that intense, blue gaze searing into her. "I'd been thinking about writing to you, or giving you a call, but I had no idea what to write or say-"

"Sara-"

"So I just opted to, you know, not write or call until I could think of something to say-"

"Sara."

"What!" she replied, exasperated.

"Stop talking."

The words were barely out of his mouth before Grissom's lips came crashing down on hers, feeding hungrily. He tasted like the wine from dinner and his skin smelled fresh like glycerine soap. Bracing one hand against the bookshelf near her hip, the other on his cheek, she felt him tease her lips apart with his tongue. She made no attempt to resist but rather returned the kiss first with hesitancy, which quickly morphed into intrigued passion.

"So, this was what you had in mind when you said, 'dessert at my place'?" Sara said in between kisses, her blood pounding in her ears.

"Odd, I thought this was the main course."

"Well then _bon apetit_."


	10. Those Pesky Loose Ends

Sara stood in beneath the hot spray of the shower, combing her fingers through her hair to rinse the shampoo from her dark locks. She forced herself to keep her eyes open, because every time they closed, she immediately flashed back to the previous night.

_His lips ran over her throat, nibbling where her pulse beat wildly, sending lances of red-hot need into her belly her thighs, everywhere. Then she'd nearly lost her mind when those clever hands drifted upwards from her hips to the front of her blouse and began to flip open the tiny seed buttons._

"_Grissom, maybe we should move to the couch?" she whispered._

"_No. Not the couch. My bed." _

_Oh yes, his bed. That beautiful lake of a bed covered in simple teal linens. Grissom hadn't bothered turning the light on, preferring to let the natural light wash through the Venetian blinds and she thanked God for it. She didn't want anything mechanical or ordinary destroying the sensation of being in the moment. She only wanted to feel._

She had definitely felt: the strong muscles of his arms and his shoulders as they wrapped around her body, the warmth of his breath on her ear, the bob of his Adam's apple when she'd laid her lips against his throat.

_Somehow she wound up trapped beneath him on the bed, stripped to the waist, as he once again fused his lips onto hers. As she fisted her hands into his shoulders, that mouth working its magic on her skin, she tore open his dress shirt, tossed it aside. 'Now' was all she could think. But when he grabbed her wrist, pressed a kiss to her palm, something shifted the frenetic need inside her into languid longing. Suddenly there seemed to be all the time in the world._

The opening of the bathroom door jarred Sara back into reality. Hoping she could attribute the flush on her skin to the steam in the shower and not of her memory, she peeked around the corner of the curtain.

And lost all the spit in her mouth as she saw Grissom standing there, wearing nothing but a towel loosely slung around his hips and a small knowing smile. The body was definitely the same from the night before, but this time, rather than long-time curiosity it was knowledgeable anticipation that glinted in his eye.

"I just finished washing my hair; I'm just about finished in here."

Grissom arched an eyebrow at her, the devilish grin slowly spread across his face.

"No, you're not."

So saying he let his towel drop to the floor, and stepped into the shower with her.

After their shower, Sara sat in Grissom's kitchen watching him make mushroom and cheese omelettes and contemplated how in the hell this was going to go forward. Certainly there had to be something said, or did there? Should she be the one to set the parameters of this relationship, like what was acceptable at work and what wasn't? Should they tell anyone at work if they were dating? What about if people knew and then started to think that she was getting better cases because her boss also happened to be her boyfriend?

"I can hear your gears gnashing away, Sara," Grissom said, bringing her plate to the table.

"I was just thinking-"

"I know what you were thinking." He sat down beside her, reached for the pepper shaker. "But let me ask you a question. Do you think I would have done what I did without asking myself the same questions?"

Sara's mouth turned upward briefly. "I guess not."

"Take a leap of faith for once in your life Sara. It's not a recon mission on a serial killer. It's a love affair."

Sara reached over, gripped his hand. "I know."

"And we go at the speed you set."

"I know that too. Can I have the pepper?"

When he passed her the shaker, her fingertips brushed slightly over his knuckles, and for the first time in her life, Sara let herself leap.

* * *

Greg was on his way out of the trace lab with the sample results from scrapings under the cop's finger nails. Renee's case was wrapped up like a Christmas present when the buddies of the RO sang like Frankie Vallie, leaving Greg and Warrick to focus on their undercover cop. That combined with Nadine's promise of breakfast in bed after his shift had whistling under his breath when Judy approached him. Despite being in two-inch heels she still had to look up at him to give him his message.

"Mr. Sanders, you have a visitor."

"Thanks Judy."

Greg walked to the front entrance of the lab, thinking that he'd find Nadine dropping off something he'd forgotten at her apartment the night before. Instead he found his sister dressed in her cheerleader sweats, her left leg bent slightly. It was a good sign; it meant she was working through her PT.

"Gizmo, what're you doing here?"

"Nick came in to tell Grissom he'd be back to work on Monday, and I asked to come with him, to see you."

"He already has his car back?"

"Borrowed a truck from his buddy; he won't have the Chevy until sometime next week." When she rose, there was only a slight wince on her face and she managed to take several steady steps. She jammed her hands into her pockets as she squared her shoulders to face her brother. "I could use some brotherly advice."

"Things not so hot with Nick anymore?"

"He wants me to move in with him."

"Well, do you want to move in with him?"

Renee blinked, confused. "Why are you so calm about this? I thought for sure you'd want to hop up and down on Nick's face for it, for sure."

"Don't _do_ that, Renee. I'm asking you a question. Do you want to move in with him?" Greg asked, dead serious as he looked his sister in the eye.

"I want to, but I'm terrified that it'll be too quick and ruin everything. I…I love him, Greg, I really do, and he loves me back. It's not like with Kenny; this is the real deal."

Greg smiled softly; for the first time his stomach didn't lurch as if to betray him. Perhaps that's why he'd gotten so tangled up about why his sister and Nick dating bothered him so deeply, that it was because it wasn't some fling but that they'd actually gone ass-over-teakettle in love. Sighing just a little, Greg pulled his sister into a tight embrace.

"How did you grow up on me?"

"I could ask the same thing about you," Renee answered and got a light thump on the head. "So what do you think?"

"I think…you should do what makes you happy."

"Even if it bugs you?"

"Renee, it's not like you'd stay a little kid forever, I knew you'd have to grow up at some point. But the gap between thinking about it and actually seeing it, that's the scary part. Fortunately, I've got Nadine to keep me occupied."

Now it was Renee's turn to grin. "You're really stuck on her, huh?"

"I think I am."

"My big brother's in love," she teased him, earning a second thump on the head.

"Hey, no beating on my woman," Nick said as he came around the corner. He wrapped an arm around Renee waist to help support her weight, kissed her temple. "I really hate to do this, sweetie, but I have to go back into work now. Diane Chase was murdered at her son's wedding so Grissom needs all hands on deck."

"Diane Chase the defence lawyer?" Greg perked up at this.

"Yeah. Go find Sara, tell her to meet you out front. I'll meet you there." Nick turned back to Renee. "You ready?"

Renee smiled at him, let her gaze go slightly off-centre to her brother, who was still watching them with interest.

"Yeah. Take me home."


	11. Epilogue: 3 Months Later in June

The Miami sun was just as brutal and unforgiving as the sun in Nevada, Nick discovered, especially when you were stuck wearing a monkey suit and had to remain seated and motionless for the better part of two and a half hours. He'd tried all manners of things to try and ease his discomfort but to no avail. Beside him, Greg was less successful in his attempts to conceal his uneasiness: the younger man was twitchy as a frog in a science experiment as he jiggled his foot and tugged simultaeneously on his collar.

"Holy hell," he muttered to Nick at the corner of his mouth, "How much longer is this old windbag going to talk? There are only twenty people in the program."

"At least if he keels over, we can process the crime scene. It'll give us something to do. Do you know if she made a decision about moving yet?"

"No, not yet. Your guess is as good as mine."

"Hey," Nadine hissed pointing at the two men, "It's your sister and your girlfriend who's graduating, show some respect."

Greg would have sneered back at her playfully had it not been for the fact that his mother was sitting on the opposite side of Nadine. Sonja Sanders was not one to be trifled with at a simple church service, never mind her precious baby girl receiving her doctorate in psychology at the age of twenty-four. Then when they called the graduates, and they saw Renee standing at the side of the stage, both men forgot their restlessness. As she crossed the stage, they all stood up and clapped loudly for her, though no one cheered for her like Nick.

After the pomp of the ceremony was finished, and Sonja had taken nearly three rolls of pictures, Renee was more than a little thankful when her father ushered her mom away to the coffee service table.

"Renee, we'll meet you back at the hotel for dinner around seven thirty."

"Oh, just one more picture of my little girl in her cap and gown," Sonja pleaded, fussing at Renee's hair and making her daughter roll her eyes while Greg smothered a chuckle.

"Come on, dear, let's let our doctor have some time with her people," Oliver Sanders said gently tugging on his wife's elbow. The mild tone and easy smile on his fair-skinned face belied the fact that he was a highly successful businessman, but Greg knew better, especially when he was getting a verbal walloping at home as a teenager.

Alone now with her brother, his girlfriend and her boyfriend, Renee grinned broadly. Her mother and daddy had been to see her graduate, as had Nadine whom Renee had grown especially close to, and of course Greg and Nick were there. She could have sworn when she was up there, she heard Greg call her Gizmo but her good mood would not permit her to ream him out for it. "I have a surprise for you, Nick."

She pulled out a piece of paper from the folds of her gown, handed it to Nick.

"Twelve-thirty-three Cheyenne Street, building C room one twenty-five," he read, then handed it to Greg to study.

"Clues to a treasure hunt?"

"No, directions to my new office…with the Las Vegas Police Department."

Nick looked at her, blinked. "What?"

"I just found out this morning." Relishing the moment, as it was not often she got to surprise her sexy investigator, Renee grinned widely. "I got the counselling job. I'm moving to Vegas baby!"

Her voice rose in excitement with each word, as Nick scooped her up in a bear hug, swing her around. "I won't start until the beginning of September, and I'll have one last month in Miami helping to run the new cheerleading training camps at the end of August with the girl taking over my job," she continued, laughing as she hugged Greg, then Nadine, "but you can bet the bank, the last day of tryouts, my stuff is going in that U-Haul and I'm making my home address four-fifty-five West Desert Drive."

Renee turned back to Nick, who was swiping at the corners of his eyes. "Honey, you okay?"

Nick nodded, then planted a whooping kiss on Renee's mouth, not really caring that it made her turn red as a tomato. "I love you."

"Right back at you, handsome. Wanna go home?"

Nick grinned now too. "With you I'm always home."


End file.
